Disco Boy

Disco Boy

88 minutes
2023
Italy / France / Poland / Belgium Drama

Following a difficult journey across Europe, Aleksei reaches Paris to enlist in the French Foreign Legion - a highly selective military corp that allows any foreigner, even undocumented, to be granted a French passport. In the Niger Delta, Jomo fights against oil companies that threaten the survival of his village. Meanwhile, his sister Udoka dreams of escaping, knowing that all is already lost there. Beyond borders, life and death, their destinies will intertwine. Aleksei is a young Belarusian on the run from a past he must bury. Entering into a kind of Faustian pact, he becomes a member of the French Foreign Legion in exchange for the promise of French citizenship. Far away in the Niger Delta, Jomo is a revolutionary activist engaged in an armed struggle to defend his community. Aleksei is a soldier, Jomo a guerrilla fighter. As a result of one more senseless war, their destinies will intertwine. What is “otherness” and how do you absorb it into who you are as you go through life, cross borders and find yourself inhabiting an ever-changing physical and mental space? Giacomo Abbruzzese exhibits a remarkable sense of out-of-the-box thinking and inventiveness as he explores such questions in a visually striking work that is ripe with poetry and tension. Bodies fall into trances that are both revelatory and altruistic because they represent an opportunity to commune with others. Accompanying this magical reverie is a powerful score from electronic musician Vitalic that helps turn the night club into a place of transcendence. The disco becomes the ultimate destination for those who keep their sights firmly set on the sacred horizon of utopia.

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About show

2023
Italy / France / Poland / Belgium Drama

Following a difficult journey across Europe, Aleksei reaches Paris to enlist in the French Foreign Legion - a highly selective military corp that allows any foreigner, even undocumented, to be granted a French passport. In the Niger Delta, Jomo fights against oil companies that threaten the survival of his village. Meanwhile, his sister Udoka dreams of escaping, knowing that all is already lost there. Beyond borders, life and death, their destinies will intertwine.

Aleksei is a young Belarusian on the run from a past he must bury. Entering into a kind of Faustian pact, he becomes a member of the French Foreign Legion in exchange for the promise of French citizenship. Far away in the Niger Delta, Jomo is a revolutionary activist engaged in an armed struggle to defend his community. Aleksei is a soldier, Jomo a guerrilla fighter. As a result of one more senseless war, their destinies will intertwine. What is “otherness” and how do you absorb it into who you are as you go through life, cross borders and find yourself inhabiting an ever-changing physical and mental space? Giacomo Abbruzzese exhibits a remarkable sense of out-of-the-box thinking and inventiveness as he explores such questions in a visually striking work that is ripe with poetry and tension. Bodies fall into trances that are both revelatory and altruistic because they represent an opportunity to commune with others. Accompanying this magical reverie is a powerful score from electronic musician Vitalic that helps turn the night club into a place of transcendence. The disco becomes the ultimate destination for those who keep their sights firmly set on the sacred horizon of utopia.

Creators

Giacomo Abbruzzese

Cast

Franz Rogowski, Robert Więckiewicz, Laetitia Ky, Michal Balicki, Ash Goldeh

Trailer

Awards

Won Nominated
Award
2023
MFF Berlín
Stříbrný medvěd za mimořádný umělecký přínos